Financial Distress in the Italian Local Governments

This contribute aims at providing a general analysis of the Italian special legislation on Local Governments’ financial upset, focusing on the “attitude” of the Central Government towards both structurally distressed and financially destabilized entities. A synthetic outline of the national framework on financial distress and insolvency of Italian Local Governments is presented; data about number, dimension and geographical position of currently distressed Italian Local Governments are commented; then, the involvement of the Central Government in restoring the financial equilibrium of distressed Italian Local Governments is considered, focusing on the legislative measures of intervention, so as to remark recent regulatory changes. The available data seem to confirm several changes in the attitude of Central Government: further studies should investigate in depth the effectiveness of the legislative measures currently adopted, so as to identify criticalities and possible revisions.